


Vodka Blackhole

by SilentAether



Series: Winter [1]
Category: Degrassi, Degrassi the Next Generation, Degrassi: Next Class
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Bisexuality, Demisexuality, Hangover, M/M, Memory Loss, Protective Siblings, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 08:20:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11376285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentAether/pseuds/SilentAether
Summary: After drinking too much at a party, Winston wakes up in the Hollingsworth pool house. Hungover, naked and with foggy memories of the previous night, he must retrace his steps to figure out what happened and, more importantly, who it happened with.





	Vodka Blackhole

**Author's Note:**

> Format based off of Champagne Supernova, except no one handcuffed Winston to who he was with the previous night.  
> That would be too easy.

#### Winston

The first thing Winston realized when he woke up was that he was in the Hollingsworth's pool house. This wasn't that strange; the Hollingsworth's place had been sort of another home to him during his long friendship with Miles, and he was familiar with waking up here from the other times he had spent the night.

The second thing Winston realized was that he wasn't wearing anything. Anything. This was not so familiar. Even at home he usually slept in at least boxers.

The third thing Winston realized when searching for his glasses was that he felt stickiness on his front. This was when he really ramped up his search for his glasses so that he could see just what was going on. His mind raced through the possible causes of stickiness.

 _Food_. There had been food at the party. Chips, pretzels, other snacks. They can be messy but, unless they could suddenly get through clothes or he had brought them back to the guest room and smeared them over himself, it wasn't very likely.

 _Drinks_. There had been a lot of drinks at the party; he had obviously had quite a few if the pounding in his head and his lack of memories from the night before were any indication. Maybe he had spilled one on himself. Or maybe someone had thrown one in his face. His mouth had gotten him in trouble on occasion. That line of thinking lasted until he found his glasses and went to put them on and he brought his hands near his face for the first time that morning.

 _Sex_. That was the only explanation for what he smelled on his hands and what he suspected was likely on the rest of him as well. It was the same smell of sweat and fluids he was familiar with from his "alone" time; only, it hit his senses much more strongly. The smell triggered little flashes of what he could only assume was the night before. Mouths, hands, and bodies pressed together in the dark. He knew then that something had happened in this room but he couldn't remember the exact details.

He couldn't remember who he had been with for one thing.

He _needed_ to find out who he was with and the possibilities began to flash through his mind. Frankie, his ex, was the most likely possibility of course. They had been together, broken up, and gotten back together enough times that at least some feelings were still there. Maybe enough to cause whatever happened last night to happen when mixed with enough alcohol. He was also at her place. The more he tried to think about it though, the more his head seemed to hurt from the obvious hangover.

He would need to go out in the rest of the house to sort this out though. That would require clothes. He couldn't go walking around the Hollingsworth home naked. While he may have felt at home in the Hollingsworth mansion, he did not feel _that_ at home. He ran into a problem with his plan as soon as he assembled his scattered clothes and went to put them on. He was missing his boxers. On the bed, in the bed, under the bed - they were nowhere to be found. Sighing, he resigned himself to going without them. He put on the clothes he could find and headed out into the house towards the kitchen.

* * *

#### Frankie

Winston was not the first one to seek out breakfast this morning. Frankie was already there sitting on one of the chairs eating a bowl of cereal. Winston downed a few glassfuls of water for his hangover then took a seat next to Frankie and grabbed a bowl of cereal for himself. He was thankful that no one else was there yet. All that was left was the uncertainty of how to start this kind of conversation with his ex.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They both continued eating for a while with Winston alternating between staring at her until she noticed and then staring into his cereal until she looked away and it was safe to stare at her again. This ended when Frankie dropped her spoon in her bowl with a clang and turned to face Winston directly.

"What?" asked Frankie impatiently.

"Uhh..." Winston responded trying to form words.

"Spit it out," Frankie sighed.

"Last night, we were both drinking, and I remember talking to you a bit but... did anything else happen?"

"Anything else?", Frankie said now confused.

"Did we... you know..." Winston clarified with a little sideways tilt of his head.

Frankie's eyes widened when she finally understood.

" **No**!" Frankie responded.

"So we didn't -"

"I think I would remember if we did."

At that Winston went back to his cereal, not looking up.

Frankie notices Winston's expression with a frown.

"Wait, do you not remember what you did last night?" asked Frankie, a bit of concern now evident in her voice.

"No, I don't," admitted Winston quietly.

Frankie was stunned into silence for a bit before she continued with more questions.

"So you don't remember who you were with?"

Winston shakes his head

"Or what happened?"

"Nope."

"But you're sure something happened?"

"I remember lying on a bed with someone, doing things, feeling, uh, you know, good," Winston looked down, embarrassed. "And then I woke up this morning without any clothes on in the pool house..." Winston noticed the expression that fell across Frankie's face at that point. "Sorry, you probably don't want to hear this. I'm pretty sure something happened but just I can't remember the details."

Before Frankie could ask any more questions, Miles and Tristan entered the room looking sleepy but happy and still wet from a shower. The two of them served themselves and took the seats opposite Frankie and Winston. They whispered back and forth to each other, glancing up at Winston and laughing quietly for a bit before Winston finally interrupted their snickering, "What?"

Miles stopped chuckling but still had a smile on his face when he responded a few moments later, "Nothing, Chewy, we were just wondering if you had a good night last night."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your neck?"

"What about it?"

"The hickeys?"

"The what?" replied Winston as he pulled out his phone and turned on the camera. He could clearly see multiple marks on his neck and a collection of them along his jawline.

"Poor Chewy, don't you know all that kissing can leave a mark?" commented Miles.

"Looks like someone else got lucky last night," added Tristan.

"And there goes the rest of my appetite," Frankie said as she pushed away from her bowl, got up and quickly left the kitchen.

"Seriously though Chewy, congratulations," added Miles with a genuine look of pride for his best friend.

"I just wish I could remember who it was with," said Winston before he nervously looked up at Miles.

"Wait, what?" asked Miles, his face shifting to concern in an instant.

"I don't remember much after leaving the pool area last night until waking up in the pool house."

"You don't remember who gave you those hickeys?"

"Nope."

"You don't remember hanging out with Lola inside?"

"No, I don't. Wait, you don't think I was with Lola do you?"

"Who knows. You did seem to be hanging out with her a lot. At least from what I saw before we left the main party." Miles glanced at Tristan with a smile before turning back to Winston.

"What I am supposed to do, go find her and ask 'Hey, we don't really know each other and I'm not sure you if you like me or anything, but did we have sex last night?'"

"Or you could tell the next girl you date that you're not sure if your a virgin and let her ponder the many ways that could be possible."

"I guess asking her is my only option then," said Winston as he cleaned up his dishes and steeled himself for a very awkward conversation. 

"Hey, Chewy. Maybe you and your aunt really were on to something." said Miles with a smile on his face, as if he couldn't help but make one more comment.

"Miles, I have enough of a headache from a hangover and the possibilities floating through my mind without having to deal with any cryptic references."

"The whole handcuffing drunk people together thing. At least then you would know who you were with."

Winston gave Miles a glare, "You're never going to let that one go are you?"

"Nope," Miles replied with a smile as Winston made his way silently out of the kitchen past a late-rising Hunter who was now entering it.

He was going to need to talk to Lola.

* * *

#### Lola

"Hi, Winston."

"Hey, Lola."

He had finally gotten up the nerve to knock on her door but was still having trouble figuring out what to say.

"I was just thinking how we were hanging out a lot last night. I wanted to know how you were doing."

"You were concerned about me? Aww, how sweet. The party was fun. You're definitely a comedian." Lola paused for a bit before adding, "Once Miles and Tristan left though you got more drunk and less funny."

"About that."

As Winston explained what he remembered of last night and how he awoke that morning, Lola's expression grew more and more disgusted before she cut him off.

"That's why you're here? Ew, Ew, Ew. What kind of girl do you think I am?"

Unfortunately, he did not have a good response to that. Considering the fact that he had come to her house to ask in the first place, it would be hard to convince her he was telling the truth if he tried to deny what kind of opinion he had of her.

Realizing he couldn't answer that, she closed the door. This left him to consider what to do next.

_Who else was at the party?_

Fortunately, the party wasn't as large as some of Miles' previous ones had been. He was able to come up with a fairly short list of names of girls who had been there that night. Winston set off on talking to those on his list, figuring he would start with the most likely and work his way through it until he found the right person.

* * *

#### Esme, Shay, Maya, and Yael

Winston crossed another name off his list. He had finished talking to a number of girls on his list: Esme, Shay, Maya, and Yael. Three slaps and a smashed foot from a slammed door later and he still didn't have a clear answer as to what had happened. Fortunately, they had all confirmed nothing had happened between them and him the night before, leaving two names left on his list.

* * *

#### Grace

A bleary-eyed Grace opened the door to her home and was presented with a nervous looking Winston.

"Winston."

"Grace."

Winston stood there for a bit, not saying anything but still managing to look awkward. The subject was still difficult for him to form into words, even with all the practice in asking uncomfortable questions from this morning. That and if there was anyone most likely to forego the rules of etiquette and gender roles and actually punch—not slap—him in the face for what he was about to ask, it would be Grace.

"Winston, it's morning on a weekend and you know I was at a party last night so I'm not in the mood to stand at my front door for no reason instead of sleeping. This had better be good."

"At the party last night... I kind of had too much to drink and I've been having trouble remembering. Did we -"

"No," interrupted Grace.

"But you haven't heard the question -"

"No, we did not," repeated Grace before rolling her eyes and closing the door in Winston's face.

"Thanks," Winston said to the now closed door, secretly relieved it wasn't her but realizing that left one name on his list left: his ex-'girlfriend'.

* * *

#### Zoe

It was already late enough by the time that Winston got to her on the list that Zoe wasn't at home. When Winston texted her that he needed to talk to her, she had him meet her at a coffee shop. Winston found the table she was sitting at, thankfully in a corner with no one nearby, and proceeded over there without bothering to order anything. The still present headache from the hangover and the bad reactions to his earlier questions made him want to get this over with as soon as possible. He had already realized that it was very unlikely that his lesbian ex-girlfriend was who he was with the previous night but hers was the only name that remained on his list of possibilities.

"Did we have sex last night?"

"Wow, nice to see you too Winston."

"I'm serious. I can't remember what happened last night after I left the pool area."

"And you thought the first person to ask would be your ex who you refused to have sex with? The one who's a lesbian?"

"Of course not. You're the last person I thought of."

"What did you make a list?"

Winston sheepishly pulled out his phone, brought up the list and showed it to Zoe.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about not remembering. You have almost every girl at the party on here. You're missing the most obvious one though," Zoe commented as she handed the phone back.

"I already asked Frankie, before I thought I needed a list. Please, was there anyone else at the party?"

"Goldi was there but she left early with her brother and his friends. Apparently not all of them can handle their alcohol. Don't go swimming in the Hollingsworth pool for a while by the way."

Winston started to freak out inside. _What if the girl he had been with confronted him later?_ _What if she had photos or a video?_ _What if he could never remember?_ _What if is first time was meaningless?_

Zoe reached her hand gently to try and reassure Winston.

"I know you want answers. Why don't you do what you did last time this happened at one of Miles' parties?" asked Zoe. When this was answered with a confused look from Winston, there was a flash of annoyance on her face before she sighed and elaborated further, "Look at the cameras? Retrace your movements? Track who hadn't left already and who was still visible when you think it happened?"

"Oh. Right."

"Just go back to the Hollingsworth's place and you'll hopefully figure out who it was."

"Thanks," he replied and started to leave before stopping and turning back to Zoe. "You've been a good friend about this. I mean it, thank you."

"I understand wanting answers to those kinds of questions, even if they might not be pleasant."

"See you on Monday."

"See you."

* * *

#### Tristan

Winston entered the Hollingsworth home and began to wander through the halls looking for Miles. He instead ran into Tristan.

"You're back. Does that mean you found out who it was?"

"No. Everyone said it wasn't them. I came back to look at the security footage to see if I could find anyone I missed."

"That desperate?"

"Yeah. Do you know where Miles is, I need his help to get into the security system."

"He's taking a shower."

"But I thought he already took one this morning."

"Well his Mom still isn't back yet and he got dirty again in the meantime," Tristan said, laughing a little at Winston's embarrassed reaction.

"You can't think of anyone else?" Winston asked once he had recovered after he handed over his list.

"This pretty much covers all the girls at the party. Who knows? Maybe it wasn't a girl at all. We both know you wouldn't be the first guy to discover he's not exactly straight in this house." When he saw the look on Winston's face he quickly added, "If it makes you feel any better, if it was a guy it wasn't me or Miles. We were both occupied."

"Thanks," Winston said, outwardly sarcastic but thankful on the inside. _That would have been too awkward._

"You're sure it was a girl though? You remember, you know, girl parts?"

Winston started to panic a bit as he realized he didn't remember anything specifically feminine in his foggy memories. He kept searching for some sense, anything from the smell of perfume or shampoo to the feel of a breast impolitely groped but couldn't come up with anything. He must have been standing there glazed over for a while because the next thing he realized was that Miles was standing next to Tristan, freshly dressed. 

"Tris, did you break my best friend?" Miles joked.

"Winston had finished going though his list of girls at the party last night and all I asked was whether he was sure it was a girl. It's not my fault his mind shutdown."

"So you still haven't found out who it was?"

"No," Winston replied, shaking himself out of his previous state. "I was going to look through the security footage to retrace my night and see if there is anyone I'm forgetting."

"Let's go take a look."

* * *

#### Miles

"So what was the last place you remember last night?" Miles asked as he pulled up the security system's interface.

"The living room, I think."

Miles fiddled a bit with the playback software.

"There you are," said Miles as he pointed out Winston on the screen. "Now all we have to do is just follow you around."

After twenty minutes of watching Winston hanging out with various people at the party, they watched as he finally went outside. And still did nothing. He ate some food and talked to a few more people but did nothing more.

"I can't believe how much fun we missed out on," Tristan commented, as he half-watched the security video and half-watched the much more interesting video now playing on his phone.

"We're trying to find out what happened. This is important," Winston visibly annoyed.

"I get that you want to know what happened, but didn't even you admit you had a good time? Isn't the real lesson here not to drink so much in the future or else you might forget the good parts?"

"Are you telling me if this was your first time you wouldn't be looking at everything you could to try and figure it out?"

"Fine," Tristan sighed, before looking back at the footage. He couldn't keep all of the sarcasm out of his voice though when he said, "Look! Another random person has walked into view! Maybe this one will be Winston's lover."

They watched the screen as Hunter walked by pool house door that Winston was standing next to. Winston had turned to Tristan to point out that it was just Hunter and therefore missed the initial interaction on the screen. Miles had still been watching however.

"Chewy?"

Winston turned back to the screen in time to see his hands on Hunter's shoulders, their bodies close together. Right before he could respond to Miles' question he saw his past self lean up and kiss Hunter before pulling back. He still didn't remove his hands from the gamer's shoulders though. Hunter responded by bringing his hands to Winston's sides and he leaned down to start another kiss. They did not seem to be stopping at just one.

"Chewy?" Miles asked, louder than before.

Winston continued to watch, horrified, as his past self and Hunter continued to make out by the pool with more and more intensity. Eventually they pulled apart. This turned out to be worse as after a brief conversation, Winston led Hunter to the door of the nearby pool house. The same one where Winston had woken up naked this morning. His past self went inside, leaving the door open for Hunter who quickly followed and closed the door. They didn't come back out right away.

"Wow, first Frankie and now Hunter. Maybe you're a Hollingsexual." Tristan joked before his expression turned half-serious. "You're not going to make a move on my boyfriend now, are you?"

"Shut up, Tristan," replied the other two as they continued to fast forward through the footage. Fifteen minutes of footage later a very disheveled Hunter crept out of the room carrying what looked like a pair of boxers.

"What the hell, Chewy?" Miles asked, turning his best friend with anger very obviously present on his face.

Winston's mind was still trying to comprehend what he just saw. His first time was with Hunter. A guy. His best friend's little brother. Pieces of his memory made a bit more sense when the fact he was with a guy was taken into account. It explained the lack of female bits in what he could remember. All he could think of to respond to Miles' question however was, "I don't know."

"How far did you take things?"

"I don't know."

"What did you to to my brother?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough."

"I barely remember it."

"That's not a good thing."

"I know."

The dark look on Miles' face wasn't necessary. Winston knew this was serious. It was now much more serious than when it had just been asking the various girls at the party, after ruling out Frankie.

_Frankie._

Somehow he doubted his ex would be happy about him hooking up with her twin brother.

"Maybe Winston has a thing for twins? He wouldn't be the first guy." Tristan asked trying to defuse the situation with a joke. This had the unfortunate-for-Winston effect of drawing Miles' attention to the Frankie factor as well.

"Please tell me this wasn't about Frankie. Please tell me you weren't trying to get back at her or something."

"I wasn't. I hadn't even been thinking about Frankie last night."

"Then why did you do it?"

"I don't know."

"What, did you just suddenly decide my brother is hot?"

"I..." Winston started to respond before thinking about how to answer the question. Sure Hunter was an attractive enough guy: nice jawline, intense blue eyes, a slim body, nimble gamer fingers... That was when Winston realized he was thinking about the previous night. Judging by his body's reaction to those thoughts, it definitely seemed like he found Hunter attractive in more than just a theoretical sense. It seemed like a small thing to admit to after everything the footage showed—and what it didn't show—but he didn't exactly feel comfortable saying that to Miles though. All he could say to finally answer Miles' question was "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I don't know. He's your brother. I haven't really thought of him like that before."

"And now you do?"

"Maybe. This is kinda new to me."

"So after cheating on my sister, you think you are going to go after my brother now?"

"I don't know!"

"What do you know, Chewy?"

"Hey," Tristan interrupted again, "I think you are both kind of forgetting one important part of all this."

"What?" both Miles and Winston asked, caught off guard.

"Don't you two think it's wrong to be talking about Hunter like he didn't have a part in what happened last night?"

"He's my little brother -"

"And Frankie is your little sister and you let Winston date her. Hunter's the same age as her. Doesn't that make him old enough to make his own decisions, even if they might not be the smartest?" Tristan asked with a pointed look at Winston.

"But he's still too young."

"Really? Weren't you his age when you first had sex?"

"That's different."

"How?"

"It just is. It's Hunter."

Both Tristan and Winston knew that Miles was never going to stop feeling protective of his younger brother.

"Look, why don't we just have Winston go talk to Hunter to find out exactly what happened and how he feels about all this before we go freaking out about it completely?"

Miles paused for a minute, looking like he was trying to come up with a reason to not let Winston anywhere near Hunter. When he couldn't come up with one that didn't sound too overprotective, even to himself, he finally relented, "Fine, but leave the door open."

With that, Winston steeled himself to go have another awkward conversation, this time with someone he had never expected. Luckily, he had some gotten some practice with awkward conversations throughout the whole ordeal.

* * *

#### Hunter

Hunter was, of course, on his computer when Winston walked in. He seemed to be hard at work with his headphones on and hadn't noticed Winston's entrance. _He doesn't seem too messed up by what happened last night at least_ , Winston thought to himself with some relief.

As he got closer, Hunter finally noticed him and quickly locked his computer before moving over to a pile of clothes on the bed. From underneath it, he pulled out a pair of neatly folded boxers—the ones Winston had been unable to find that morning—before walking over with a smile and returning them. "Nice and clean, just like I said."

Winston was speechless.

"What, you didn't think I knew how to do laundry? I'm not a total noob. Plus it would be awkward if my Mom did that kind of laundry."

When Winston still didn't respond Hunter's expression grew concerned, putting a hand on Winston's arm gently before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Everything," Winston said, as he brushed Hunter's arm off before sitting down the bed.

"You're worried about how Miles and Frankie will react?"

"What? It's just..." Winston paused for a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing, "I can barely remember anything that happened last night."

"Funny," Hunter responded before realizing that Winston was serious.

"I'm not kidding. I woke up with a hangover in the pool house and didn't know what had happened. I actually went around asking all the girls at the party if something had happened between us before coming back to look at the security footage."

" _All_ the girls? That makes me feel appreciated."

Ignoring the comment, Winston asked the big question that was weighing heavily on him, "How far did we go last night?"

"You mean did we have sex? I'm not that kind of guy." Hunter said, making Winston a bit worried this conversation was going where too many of his other ones that day had gone until Hunter smiled and added, "We just made out a lot and you kind of... lost control from all the grinding."

"Then how did you get my underwear?"

"You didn't want to sleep like that so you took them off for me to wash." Hunter smirked before getting more serious, "You really thought we had hooked up?"

Winston nodded before sighing. There was at least one thing Miles could be less angry about.

Hunter's face had darkened after seeing Winston's expression of relief. "Is that all you were concerned about? You didn't come here to talk about us?"

"Us?" Winston managed to get out.

"Yeah, we were going to go and talk about what happened, about us... You really don't remember this?"

"No."

"I asked you out. You're not backing out on me, are you?"

Winston pondered how to stop this before it went too far before figuring out that the most direct route would be best, "I'm not gay."

"Duh, I know you like girls too," Hunter replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?" Winston mentally stumbled a bit before clarifying, "I mean I'm not into guys."

"But what about last night?"

"I was drunk."

"So was I. That doesn't change who you like, it just... removes some inhibitions a bit."

Winston tried to redirect the conversation, "You like me?"

"Why do you think I made out with you and asked you out?"

"But what about Arlene and Yael?"

"Arlene moved away and ... Yael and I decided to just be friends."

"I meant about them being girls. Does that mean you're bi like Miles?"

"It's different. I'm not attracted to most people like he is."

"Wait, you did like actually like Arlene though, right? What about your comic?"

He realized that bringing up the time when he invaded Hunter's privacy was probably not a smart idea the moment he said it. Hunter's expression had shifted to anger. Thankfully, his anger had a different target.

"I don't have to be attracted to someone to want protect a fellow nerd from bullying cheerleaders."

"But you were so awkward and nervous around her."

Hunter closed his eyes and sighed. When he re-opened them and spoke, he was calmer and had a slight smile on his lips from Winston's cluelessness, "I'm a nerd, that's like our default setting when talking to someone we don't know."

"But you did like her."

"It's complicated, and we're getting off topic," The serious look on Hunter's face was back. "Are you saying you don't actually like me, even after everything you said and did last night?"

Winston knew he had to answer carefully. The survival of his friendship with Miles and potentially more depended on it. The problem was that every time he opened his mouth to say something he found himself unable to say anything. He just sat there trying to say something unsuccessfully.

After a few seconds of Winston imitating a fish, Hunter had finally had enough. He turned Winston's head towards him gently with a hand on his cheek before leaning in and starting a kiss.

Winston's first thought was that kissing a guy wasn't like he expected it it to be.

Hunter used his grip on Winston's face to direct the action and Winston found the intensity of his current make out partner a very different from his past ones.

After a few more seconds they broke apart, panting. Winston realized something after recovering.

It wasn't bad.

"Shit."

Hunter looked at Winston, confused, before he looked down and sighed. "Again?"

Winston looked down at the definitely noticeable bulge in his jeans. _Well it seems like one part of me isn't confused at least._

Having taken Winston's silence for an affirmative, Hunter grabbed a pair of sweatpants from next to him on the bed that would fit Winston well enough.

"We didn't even get to anything yet. You can cleanup and change in the bathroom. You seriously need to work on your control though."

Winston finally realized what Hunter was talking about and what he thought had happened.

"No, I didn't..." protested Winston before he pushed the pants away with an exasperated sigh. "I'm fine. It was just me realizing I might actually like you when I'm sober too."

"Oh, is that all?" Hunter asked, amused.

"There's no need to be rude about it." Winston ran his hand through his hair. "Why does everything have to be so complicated?"

Hunter moved and put his hands on Winston shoulders and began to reassure him, "It's going to be okay."

Winston moved to protest but stopped when he saw the Hunter's intense gaze aimed at him. He had forgotten how intense Hunter could be. Even though he had witnessed Hunter reassuring his siblings in a similar manner before, it was very different when he was the target of it instead of just a bystander.

"Everything's going to be okay. We'll figure it out and then tell Frankie and Miles."

_Shit._

Hunter saw the change on Winston's face. "Are you worried about Miles? He'll be okay with it and we can tell him together if you want."

"He already knows."

"What? You told him already?"

"He helped me go through the security footage to figure out what happened last night." When Hunter didn't react to that news, Winston added, "He saw us go into the guest room together and he saw you leave 15 minutes later with my boxers. He's actually waiting downstairs."

"And he thinks we had sex?"

"Yep."

"Shit."

"Yeah. I'm supposed to be up here checking on you and finding out what happened."

"Well, tell him nothing's happened yet and, even if it did, he's not allowed to kill my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?"

Hunter looked at Winston like he was an idiot, "If we're dating, that would mean we're boyfriends, right? Unless you would like to be called something else instead? My suitor? My admirer? My Chu-Chu Train?"

Winston hesitated. He tried to get used to the sound of the word _boyfriends_ in his head before answering, "Boyfriend is fine."

"Good. You'd better go find him before he starts to think we're making out in here and he comes looking for you."

"Yeah," Winston replied as he headed towards the doorway.

"Winston, one last thing."

Winston started to turn around but stopped when he felt Hunter's mouth pressing on his neck. He moaned at the sensation and the intensity of it. When Hunter didn't let up after a few moments he realized that this was how he had gotten the other marks on his neck and jaw. After a few more moments he started to wonder if the marks were intentional, rather than merely a byproduct of their make out sessions. Finally, Hunter backed off and Winston felt the spot on his neck.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" asked Winston.

"Doing what?" asked Hunter with a far too innocent look on his face.

Winston looked at Hunter for a few seconds more before deciding that putting off talking to Miles for any longer would not be a good idea.

"Nothing."

He left the room and headed downstairs to start an awkward conversation with his best friend.

* * *

#### Hollingsworths

When Winston finally found Miles in the kitchen, he was surprised to find that Tristan wasn't with him. He wasn't alone though. Miles and Frankie were having a hushed conversation which stopped when they noticed him enter the room.

Frankie looked annoyed at having to be there.

"Are you going to explain why Miles is insisting that I should be concerned with your love life? It was bad enough having to hear about what you got up to last night while trying to eat breakfast. Are you going to ruin dinner for me too now?"

_Shit._

Miles hadn't told her anything. This was going to be more awkward than he anticipated. When he didn't respond, Mile took the opportunity to move things along.

"What did you find out, Chewy?"

Winston realized he needed to get Miles off his back in order to have any chance of the conversation going well.

"I found out I'm still a virgin."

Miles looked relieved at that while Frankie looked disgusted.

"And why did you think I needed to know that?"

_Just rip the band-aid off._

"It turns out I was with Hunter last night."

It took Frankie a few seconds to process what he said.

"Eww." Frankie's nose wrinkled in disgust before following it up with an accusation, "Did you have some kind of weird three-way makeout session with Yael? Is that why he was acting weird earlier?"

"No, Yael wasn't involved."

"But what were..." Frankie's eyes widened as she realized the implication, "No..."

"We made out. That's all."

"But you said you woke up naked in the pool house."

"I did, but I still had all my clothes on when I was with Hunter."

"So you just made out with my twin, that's all?"

Winston looked to Miles for assistance.

"I think what Winston is trying to say is that nothing actually happened. Just a drunken make out session he would like to forget and move on. Right?"

Not quite the kind of assistance he wanted.

"Uh... actually, we kind of decided to try dating."

"What?" the Hollingsworth siblings asked in unison.

"Hunter asked me out-"

"And you accepted?" Miles interrupted.

"Yes."

"Why would you do that to him?" asked Frankie.

"Do what to him? We haven't even done anything yet," responded Winston.

"Your getting his hopes up. He doesn't need this right now."

"Getting my hopes up? Really?" None of them had noticed Hunter enter the room in the middle of their discussion but they were now acutely aware of his presence.

"Hunter."

"I'm not going to break. I'm not _that_ fragile. I can handle going on a date with a decent person. Unless you think that someone we've all known for years and who you both normally like is somehow now persona non grata just because he wants to go out with me?"

The look in Hunter's eyes warned them off from even trying to make that argument.

Miles glanced at Frankie for support before explaining, "We just think that maybe it's a bit too soon -"

"When would be a good time for me to date then, for you? Next year? Next decade?"

"We just don't want you rushing into things," Frankie tried to clarify. "Are you even sure you like Winston?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've liked him longer than you at least."

"Really?" all three turned their heads towards him.

"I've known that I wasn't like most people for a few years now. I just didn't feel like most people say they do when they look at others. Winston and a few others have been different though."

"So you're not straight... but why Winston of all people?" Frankie asked.

"Hey," Winston protested, but he was curious of Hunter's reasoning too.

"Why does the fact that I like _him_ surprise you so much? We've known each other for years and we're interested in a lot of the same things plus he's funny and nice," Hunter explained to her before looking at Winston and adding another reason, "and hot."

Frankie looked Winston up and down at Hunter's last comment. She couldn't exactly disagree with him though after her history with Winston. At least not without sounding like a hypocrite. She tried to come up with another reason for this relationship not to start but failed to find something that didn't sound petty even to herself. Defeated, Frankie turned to her twin and asked, "So you're going to date him? Everything else that goes along with that too? You're ready for that?"

Hunter looked her in the eyes and answered simply, "Yes."

Frankie looked at Miles before continuing Winston's questioning, "You're actually going to come out as bi or something? No sneaking around in secret with my brother and lying about it to your family or people at school?"

"Yes. I'll even tell Tristan, then everyone will know."

She seemed satisfied with the answer. It was then Miles' turn to ask a question to make the situation clear, "You understand that I won't forgive you if you hurt him?"

"Yes."

Before another question could get asked, Hunter interrupted, "I think that's enough. He knows the stakes. He's been warned. Besides, Winston needs to get ready for dinner."

"Dinner?"

Hunter turned to Winston, "I've got us a quiet table at a place nearby for us to talk. We can consider it our first date. You need time to get ready though."

 _He works fast,_ thought Winston before asking, "What do you mean get ready?"

Hunter leaned in close, out of earshot of his siblings, and whispered in Winston's ear, "While I may like the smell of your sweat and more from last night, other people might not. Besides, I thought you might be more comfortable down there with some underwear on."

"Right," was all Winston could say to that as he headed off to get ready for his date.

**Author's Note:**

> LTL;FTP  
> I've had this in my head for way too long (post-NC Season 1) and finally decided to finish it and post it.  
> Add feedback and let me know if there are any mistakes in spelling, grammar, characterization or anything else.


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